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A Pennsylvania judge accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the head while he slept was convicted of attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges.
“After two hours of deliberations, a jury convicted Sonya M. McKnight, a magisterial judge in Dauphin County, on both charges she faced — one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault,” the New York Post reports.
WATCH:
JUST IN: Pennsylvania judge convicted of trying to execute her sleeping boyfriend by shooting him in the head.
Magisterial judge Sonya M. McKnight shot her then-boyfriend in the temple while he was sleeping last year.
The incident happened after Michael McCoy tried ending their… pic.twitter.com/kjAr2fKxam
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 11, 2025
Full text:
JUST IN: Pennsylvania judge convicted of trying to execute her sleeping boyfriend by shooting him in the head.
Magisterial judge Sonya M. McKnight shot her then-boyfriend in the temple while he was sleeping last year.
The incident happened after Michael McCoy tried ending their relationship, telling her to move out of the home.
When McCoy told McKnight he was serious about her moving out, she said, “oh, so you’re serious.”
This was the last thing McCoy heard from McKnight before he was woken up to “massive head pain” and was blind.
McCoy was rushed to the hospital where a gunshot wound to his head was found.
The bullet reportedly entered McCoy’s right temple and exited his left temple, according to the New York Post. The bullet was millimeters from ending his life.
This wasn’t the first time that McKnight shot one of her partners. During an incident with her former husband, the judge shot him in the groin after telling him to move furniture.
She wasn’t prosecuted at the time because she claimed “self-defense.”
McKnight faces 60 years in prison.
Pennsylvania judge Sonya McKnight convicted of shooting sleeping boyfriend in the head https://t.co/swemk5QSeL pic.twitter.com/nsjy75aAdz
— New York Post (@nypost) April 10, 2025
From the New York Post:
McKnight, 58, who has held the elected role since 2016, was taken away in handcuffs after the trial judge rejected a defense request that she be released.
She was taken outside the county for incarceration because she sent many defendants to Dauphin County Prison during her nine years on the bench, PennLive reported.
The shooting unfolded in February 2024 after McKnight’s then-boyfriend, Michael McCoy, 54, attempted to end their one-year relationship and asked her to move out of his home.
McKnight allegedly agreed to go — but later that evening, McCoy was awoken by a “massive head pain” and was blind. During the trial, he testified that he couldn’t see after the shooting but that McKnight was the only other person home at the time.
Police said that McKnight called 911 and that during the call she “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming.”
Pennsylvania judge convicted of shooting ex-boyfriend in head as he slept https://t.co/CQXd5O50Iq
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 10, 2025
A magistrate judge in Pennsylvania was convicted of attempted murder and aggravated assault of her ex-boyfriend, who was left blind in one eye after he was shot in the head while he slept.
She could face up to 60 years in prison. https://t.co/47DG4y24Qg
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 10, 2025
Per CBS News:
Prosecutors argued at trial that McKnight was a jealous partner who “didn’t like” that she had been asked to leave, but her attorney said the ex-boyfriend couldn’t identify the shooter. McCoy testified that he couldn’t see after the shooting, but that McKnight was the only other person in the home at the time.
“I thought I was having a brain aneurysm,” McCoy testified, according to WHP-TV.
The station reported that several other witnesses testified, including Dr. Steven Allen, who treated McCoy’s gunshot wound. Allen testified that if the bullet had a different trajectory by a matter of centimeters, there would have been a very different outcome.
The jury, comprised of Delaware County residents who were bused to Harrisburg for the trial, deliberated for two hours before convicting McKnight on both counts she faced.
McKnight, an elected judge in Dauphin County since 2016, was suspended without pay in mid-November 2023 by the Court of Judicial Discipline, which handles misconduct allegations against judges. The Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates and charges misconduct cases against Pennsylvania judges, alleged in a September filing that McKnight violated judicial probation from a previous misconduct case centered on her actions regarding a 2020 traffic stop involving her son. She was acquitted of criminal charges in that matter.